Professor Abby Hill
Biography Abby is a muggle-born witch and daughter of a 'psychic' medium. Her family relocated to London from Chicago when she was 13 and at that time was admitted to Hogwarts and sorted into Hufflepuff. Her ties to the muggle world sparked an interest in the connections between Muggle Metaphysics and the Wizarding World. Abby has always speculated that there is a lost link between the two and dedicated much of her early adult life researching. One of her areas of focus was Tarot, a skill in which Abby excelled. She spent years traveling and gathering information for her research. During her time researching, she befriended former Auror and current Hogwarts Professor Joan Watson, and over the years they became close friends. Her accuracy and ability to foresee things ultimately cost her the trust of friends and family. One such relationship was lost in 2014, when Abby's fiance broke off their engagement. Shortly after the breakup, her official thesis on the subject of her studies was released to overwhelmingly negative reception. She was openly mocked by numerous witches and wizards of reputation in the Wizarding World, and was quietly investigated by someone from the Ministry of Magic whom she believed to be an Unspeakable. She abandoned her research and hid it, hoping that she would be able to move on to a more quiet way of life. Heartbroken, Abby has become more guarded and reserved since Hill was hired in 2015 at Hogwarts as a Professor of the newly-created Muggle Metaphysical Studies. She believes that long-time friend Professor Joan Watson is the reason that she was offered the job, but has never been able to prove it. Personal Life Abby is a caring, optimistic person who is fiercely loyal and protective of the few close friends she has. She is something of a hopeless romantic and habitually forms crushes, but almost never acts on them out of fear of rejection. She has 2 rescue cats named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, aka Rosie and Goldie. She's addicted to Disney movies and loves visiting her family in Florida when she can so that she can sneak away to the parks for a day. She has no siblings and very little extended family. Hogwarts Nightmare After several years of being a quiet instructor, Abby began to notice that many professors at Hogwarts, as well as students, were sharing in terrifying dreams. After some digging, she came to the conclusion that whatever entity was attacking dreams existed in the astral plane. She channeled Professor Watson's shield magic, extending it astrally, in an effort to protect the Sleepless and buy them some time to take on the Nightmare entity known as Wylena. However, she inadvertently ended up trapping several professors in the astral plane, which led to strained relations with Watson's partner, Professor Paul Wickham. After Wickham stated he was going to try to shut down the leylines, which would effectively create a catastrophic loss of ability for many at Hogwarts, Abby opted to head into the astral plane alone to take down the shield and set things right. She suffered tremendous damage trying to push back through the shield, and was only able to get through due to a fluke of timing that created a weakness. However, the professors had already been pulled out and Wylena had escaped. Before she could leave again, she came across Paul Wickham's astral spirit, which had been ripped apart into 3 pieces and trapped in the astral plane. She helped piece him back together along with Professor Sloth, then returned to her physical form, which was badly damaged. She joined the final fight against the nightmare but was too weak to do much damage, and was knocked out quickly. She was saved by fellow professors, but was heartbroken at the losses suffered in the final battles against Wylena. Post-Nightmare/Yule 2019 After the nightmare was defeated, Abby had a gut feeling that she shouldn't remain in her tower as often as she had. Through her sheepish attempts, she befriended Professor Nova and let him in on her deepest secrets, some of which even Joan Watson doesn't know. Abilities Abby has a powerful connection to the astral plane and that is where her abilities are the strongest. On the physical plane, however, she struggles in aspects such as dueling and defensive magic. Unlike most humans, she can come and go from the astral plane and linger there for long periods of time with little to no mental side effects. However, if she suffers an attack in the astral plane, her physical body bears the brunt of the damage.